OnePlus smartwatch was abandoned due to intense competition

Chinese start-up OnePlus could have been the newest entrant to the burgeoning smartwatch segment had not there been a change of plans in between, a recent Tweet to this effect by company co-founder Carl Pei revealed.

That was back in 2015 when the company was believed to be working on a smartwatch that looked similar to the Moto G. In fact; things were in advanced stages when the company eventually decided against pursuing its smartwatch dreams citing what CEO Pete Lau considered as “cruel market” conditions. Instead, the company chose to keep focusing on the smartphone segment.

The said smartwatch from OnePlus, detailed sketches of which were revealed by Carl Pei on Twitter, makes for an interesting study, though. From what seems evident, the watch that never was featured a design that allowed the straps to be detached from the primary watch’s body.

Further, the smartwatch itself comprised of three components, the actual device, frame holding the device and the band on which these were strapped on to. Of course, users would have had the option to interchange the bands for a more stylish feel to it.

That it has been a wise decision not to launch a smartwatch is evident considering the segment is yet to take off in a manner we have seen smartphones emerge. There has not been a single smartwatch that proved to be a success story for others to emulate. In other words, there is yet to be a smartwatch equivalent of an iPhone while competition seems to be getting intense by the day.

What should be another reason for OnePlus to reconsider their smartwatch plans is that their bread-n-butter smartphone segment itself has begun to shrink after years of growth. Even though China still continues to be the biggest smartphone market, growth seems to have slowed down of late. Plus, relentless competition from other domestic players, each playing the price card all too well is more bad news for OnePlus.

As such, from what seems evident is that not only has OnePlus scrapped the smartwatch it designed in 2015, it isn’t anytime soon that the company could be ready to launch a smartwatch of its own.